This project is from Imperial construction, incredible location, true toes in the sand, ocean front at Bessa. Imperial Construction a well respected and experienced local company. Bessa Imperial is a perfect second home or buy to rent option due to the popular location, views and facilities. The Bessa area is expanding and improving all the time, the project sits on the corner of the best strip of city beach in the Joao Pessoa area and there are plenty of good bars and restaurants within a short stroll from this location. The complex is well designed and has excellent communal facilities with a resort style swimming pool. two, three and four bedroom apartments from 700 – 4,750 sq.ft. with prices starting at US$164,000. Developer finance available.

Click here to see availability and full price list

Luxor Oceano Atlantico is a prestige project of three bedroom high end apartments in a low rise block overlooking Intermares beach.  Intermares has it’s own identity and infrastructure, the wide sandy beach is a favorite for local surfers and turtles.  There are plenty of shops, bars and restaurants in the area and the supermarkets, malls and night life of Joao Pessoa are only 10 minutes away.  This fabulous development features an outstanding communal leisure facilities including an amazing roof-top pool with stunning views. Three bedroom apartments from 1,033 – 1570 sq.ft. with prices starting at US$280,000.  Developer finance available.

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Are you making 20% a year on your investments?

If your not making 20% a year on your capital investments perhaps your invested in the wrong markets!
I was recently asked to look at some historical info for an article a friend of mine was writing and I was shocked to see just how well my clients have been doing in Brazil.
Gail bought an apartment through me in a small development called Riacho Verde, near the famous Cabo Branco beach, she paid R$242k for the 2 bed 600sq. ft. condo in November 2011, now the apartment is conservatively worth R$325k, that’s a 34% profit in just 18 months.  Another client, Anthony, bought in to the wonderful Tour Geneve project on Altiplano, this really is a super project, he bought a small office unit for R$252,254, today, there are only a few offices left to sell in the project, even before a brick is laid, the office Anthony bought is today valued at R$324,635, that’s an incredible 28.7% capital gain in just one year!  These are not isolated cases, I don’t have any clients who have not made money from investments in Brazilian property with me.
What makes a good investment? Well the traditional formula of location+location+location is valid but the location is not just the geographical data and a nice view, it’s increasingly more about location in relation to strong economy and market demand, it’s no good buying that condo in Miami if you want to make money now, you need to see where people are taking advantage of high capital gains now and that is in Brazil!

The Brazilian economy is slowing down, partly due to China but also the government have been trying to cool the economy and to stop the currencies rise against the dollar.  This is smart fiscal control that will keep the boom out of the market and facilitate continued sustainable growth in industry and the property market.

What to invest in.  We as were many others were drawn to the recent low cost / social housing boom, many people got in early and made good profit from the schemes but that market has become overly bureaucratic and is mostly dried up now from the point of view of the small investor.  Land is always a consideration but to buy cheap land in Brazil you would have to find the next “latest thing” if the area is a sure thing it’s not going to be cheap!  So we end up back with apartments and commercial property in prime areas, always a safe bet if you are in early enough.

Where to invest.  I guess it will come as no surprise that I think Joao Pessoa is the ideal place for you to invest but look at the facts; Steady sustainable growth over the last ten years, an area attracting large numbers of wealthy immigrants from the South of Brazil, a growing, clean and safe city where there is still plenty of potential capital appreciation to take advantage of very low risk.

Come take a peek, visit Joao Pessoa and see for yourself why this is Brazil’s number one investment destination. Be wise and open your eyes to Joao Pessoa!

It is not uncommon for buyers to delay registering the deed sometimes for years, to delay paying the closing costs but beware, when you come to sell the property you may end up paying more as the town hall valuation may have gone up and the closing costs are calculated from the town hall valuation or the contract cost, whichever is higher.

Closing costs vary from state to state but essentially they are between 6.5% and 7.5% of the value, this includes the property transfer tax ITBI and the registrar office fees as well a a few small sub taxes.

If you buy pre-construction property and sell it soon after purchase, it is often possible to cut down these costs by passing on the right to register the property to another person, its called a cessation of rights contract, you would need the agreement of the original seller and you still need to register the original contract between you and the original seller (circa 1%).

Brazil’s national airport authority Infraero is preparing a 29mn-real (US$15.8mn) project to build a second passenger terminal for the international airport serving Paraíba state capital João Pessoa, a spokesperson for the authority according to BNamericas.   “We are currently conducting preliminary studies aimed at preparing the tender,” the spokesperson said, adding that a tender date and exact budget have yet to be finalized.

The airport, also known as Presidente Castro Pinto, is located in Bayeux, some 13.6km from downtown João Pessoa.  The current passenger terminal spans 9,464m2 and has capacity to handle 860,000 passengers per year, following improvement and remodeling work that started in 2004.  Paraíba state’s other airport, Presidente João Suassuna, is located in the city of Campina Grande, some 122km from João Pessoa.

The proposed expansion in capacity for airlines is a direct response to passenger numbers through Joao Pessoa, already at breaking point more airlines want to fly into Joao Pessoa but the current infrastructure can’t handle any more flights, numbers are up year after year, it’s a shame it has taken until now to plan to increase the capacity of the airport.  The second terminal will have full international facilities which will allow the airport to accept regular international flights for the first time.

The power of the Internet was illustrated last week when a local minor celebrity making a television advert for a luxury apartment complex in Joao Pessoa, mentioned in the advert that his daughter Luiza was in Canada, this was picked up by locals who saw it as bad form that he was boasting, very soon there were hundreds of You-Tube videos and Tweets mocking him, songs were quickly written including the phrase, menos Luiza que estar no Canada (Except Luiza who is in Canada). Luiza soon returned and film crews were at Toronto to see here of and at Sao Paulo airport for her jubilant return, continuing the sarcastic tone of the publicity.  The story even outranked a rape allegation on Big Brother for top spot on national television with Luiza being interviewed.   Soon everyone was on board, Lenine a popular music star, made reference on stage in front of a massive audience, he said. “look at all these people, everyone is here except Luiza!!”  Travel companies ran promotions for Canada based on the Luiza theme, language schools, electrical shops and cellphone companies all ran national campaigns around the whereabouts of Luiza.  Even the countries presidents official twitter account made a mention.  Luiza is now a national name and will no doubt be wheeled out for several reality shows, she has  been busy making her own adverts and has completely eclipsed her dad on the social scene!
What’s interesting is the power of the media that we control and the speed that business reacted to the opportunity, what started out as a joke turned into a business opportunity for many quick to react companies.
By the way, the building that was being advertised by Dad, pretty much sold out in a week and the developer is considering renaming the project Residential Luzia Rabello.

This way the developer does not have to use his money to buy the land and the landowner will receive a higher value than he would do for selling the property in a normal way.

When projects are launched we often see that several are all ready shown as sold on the price list, most of the time these are the units that have been swapped for the land that the project will be built on.

The value of the land varies, location, as ever is king, zoning, percentage of land that can be built, number of floors permissible and difficulty of access etc all influence the deal.  Normally a landowner can expect to get between 15 & 25% of the finished product in return for the land.

Why is this interesting for investors? because some landowners do not see the value in waiting 2-4 years to get make the extra money. Sometimes when a landowner dies the family want to cash in the land and do not want to receive apartments, they want money.  In these cases, it is possible for an investor to buy the property, do the PERMUTTA deal and sit back to make a good profit when the building is completed.  Of course, investors don’t have to wait for the building to complete, they can sell their units pre-construction as the developer will be doing.

A recent deal we structured is targeted to make 70% profit from a US$212,000 investment in 28 months.

If you want think you might be interested in learning more about these deals, send me an email, I will put your name on our list and as and when one of these comes along, I will be in touch.

The Brazilian government has been desperately trying to halt and reverse the Brazilian reals rise against the US dollar, an overly strong real is seen as a negative for exports and the general economy.  The government and central bank have been bringing in more and more measures to try to dampen enthusiasm in investing in the currency.

Recently these measures, taxes and limits etc have taken effect, the Brazilian real has come down against the US dollar in recent weeks.  Recently the rate has been as low as R$1.51 / US$1.00, currently sitting at R$1.77 / US$1.00 this means the dollar is worth around 17% more than it was.

All this means that Brazilian property offeres exceptional value to US buyers, this has spiked interest in Brazilian property.

If your buying property pre-construction the idea is that you make money from the deal, so how do you do that and what are the secrets and potential hazards to buying this way?

Why buy pre-construction?

When a project is launched the best units sell first, so one central reason to buy apartments pre-construction is to get hold of the most desirable units, this is valid if you are buying as an investor or if you intend to live in the apartment.

Until recently, banks in Brazil did not offer loans on housing, therefore if builders wanted to sell properties they had to offer to finance to buyers.  Now banks do offer mortgages but only when properties are complete, ie not durring the construction period.  This gives opportunity to investors to buy in early and sell into the local market when the property is finished and mortgageable.

When a developer plans a project he decides the average price per square meter that he needs to sell the units for to achieve his goal of covering costs and making a profit.  At launch the sales price is set below this target per m2 price to encourage early sales, as the units are sold the developer raises the selling price, as more units sell, the price continues to rise, this allows the average achieved price to match the developers planned rate. As an example, once the first 10% of units are sold, the developer will raise the prices by 5%, another price rise of 5% after 20% are sold etc etc.  So from when the first to last units are sold the price list keep going up, this way you as an investor are able to buy in early and sell late in the sales life of the project, selling your unit at the increased price.  This rate of increase in price should be above market price by circa +50-70%.

So when you buy pre-construction you should be buying the most desirable units at the best prices.

What should you look for when selecting a pre-con investment?

Much the same as any property investment, the prime consideration is location and desirability, it must be sellable as and when you want to sell it, so what is the market / markets, where we are in Joao Pessoa, 95%+ of the sales are to Brazilians, so international investors must consider the criteria of the national market ahead of their home market. If the locals aren’t buying it then neither should the international investor.

When you buy off plan the pictures in the sales brochure may look stunning but how can you be sure the building will look the same as it does in the architects pretty pictures. Although it’s not infalible, you can look at the developers recently completed projects, see if the quality of finish matches what they are showing in the pictures.  To get the planning permission the developer must specify the finishes in a document called the memorial descriptivo, as a buyer you can see this document and examples of the tiles etc that will be used.

Choosing a prime area is vital, it half’s your risk.  As mentioned above, you are taking a calculated risk that the property will turn out so if you buy pre-construction in a new / up and coming / area of the future, then you are doubling your risk.

You should compare the price per sq. meter with similar pre-con projects and re-sales, you aim to be a little below market, if its too expensive you may not make so much capital gain profit, if it’s too cheap then beware why would a developer try to make less profit then they potentially could make.

Your lawyer should do a due diligence report on the project, the land, the developer and its directors.  This report will confirm that all the required documents have been issued and there are no current significant legal proceedings in motion involving the company and it’s directors. The final document a developer needs to build is called the registration of incorporation, without this it is illegal for them to sell or promise to sell a property to you, if the developer does not have this, they can take a reservation but they should not take any money from you.

The developer;
Those that know Joao Pessoa will be familiar with the developer, Conserpa have just celebrated their 40th anniversary and continue to deliver popular buildings on time and to a high standard.

Click through to our mini site with the up to date prices and availability.